CLA East raises concerns of Government's broadband USO

While the Government's announcement of a Universal Service Obligation (USO) has been widely welcomed, some remain concerned that rural Britain will be left behind when it comes to broadband.

David Cameron announced the creation of the USO on Monday (9 November), stating that homes and businesses would have a right demand to broadband speeds of at least 10 Mbps.

However, in welcoming the news, Country Land and Business Association (CLA) East has also stressed that more needs to be done to service rural parts of the UK.

CLA East acknowledged the Prime Minister's announcement this week as a "major breakthrough", but the organisation, which represents farmers, landowners, and rural businesses, added that the roll-out had proven to be "frustrating" and risked missing another target.

Tim Woodward, CLA East regional surveyor, said the USO will be taken with a pinch of salt as previous Government broadband targets had not been met. He explained: "The original policy was for 90 per cent of coverage with at least 2 Mbps by 2015. This target was not met, so was extended to 2017 – but to reach 95 per cent of the population.

"This will still leave five per cent mainly, but not solely, in rural areas not able to access broadband, which many of us consider to be the fourth utility. Times are moving faster than the broadband roll-out and while getting Government to commit to a USO of 10 Mbps is excellent news, that figure will need to be 20 Mbps if the speed of the roll-out of the superfast programme doesn’t increase also."

He added that there is no guarantee that the Government will achieve its target of getting 95 per cent of Britain access to broadband, stating that the CLA would continue to campaign for rural residents and businesses to ensure these goals were met.

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